In his first interview since becoming a best director Oscar nominee, Joachim Trier can’t help but gush over his Sentimental Value cast.
“I’ve always watched the Oscars, I’m a third-generation filmmaker — [I’d] be in Oslo in the morning there and falling asleep [while] my parents are watching the Oscars, it was always fun,” the Danish-Norwegian filmmaker tells The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday in the wake of Sentimental‘s impressive nine nods.
“Usually it’s the international category that you’re looking for, but this was remarkable,” says Trier. “The whole film family is in there. I was so moved. It’s interesting, the first name out of all the nominations to be called was Elle Fanning! She’s such a prolific actor and she’s had a career for so long and she came to our film and blessed it with her smartness and her craft. She’s just a lovely person. And then right after Inga [Ibsdotter Lilleaas] was called out — ‘Oh my god!’ — and yeah, it’s very moving.”
Trier’s sixth film is nominated for best picture, best director, best actress (Renate Reinsve), best supporting actress (Fanning and Ibsdotter Lilleaas), best supporting actor (Stellan Skarsgård), best editing, as well as best original screenplay and best international feature — nominations Trier shares with writing-producing partner Eskil Vogt.
“I wasn’t expecting it,” the Worst Person in the World filmmaker continues about his first best director nod. “I’m really, really happy. It means a lot. The group I’m nominated with, I know all of them. They’re my friends, actually, and they’re really great directors, all of them. So to be included in that group is a win already for me.”
He describes the recognition as “a really big deal” for someone who has had a camera in his hand from a young age, and takes a moment to, again, laud the performances of his cast. “Stellan and Renate, we wrote for them… We really wanted to work with them, and they said yes, and I think that that’s been a blessing, that the actors have really been brave and gone vulnerable and done risky stuff and taken a leap of faith with this project.”
The creative also takes a moment to touch on what it means to land a best picture nomination as a Norwegian-language film, and flying the flag for international cinema. “That’s why I’m blessed. I don’t take this for granted,” says Trier. “I’ve traveled around festivals my whole adult life, seen short films and great films that don’t necessarily get the attention it deserves.”
Trier also touches on his less traditional approach to financing his films — the star tends to work through European co-productions and has previously explained refusing financiers for varying reasons. “I work in a very particular way, in a very particular climate, don’t I?” he says. “I’m not into any power games… I do a lot of screenings, both Stateside and in Norway, for a lot of ordinary people who go to the movies. We talk to people and we try to get the film into a place where it doesn’t condescend the audience, where they are allowed to interpret and not every answer is given.”
“There are many people collaborating in terms of financing from different countries, and I found that that being recognized that we are now [by] the Academy is really a lovely thing, because it’s a bit of an unusual way of working in the States.”
When asked if there were any performance or scene other than in Sentimental Value that really knocked Trier off his feet this year, he praised One Battle After Another. ”If I may speak of an ensemble, I think a film that has a great variety of amazing performances is One Battle After Another. I feel that the whole group is really, really incredible, and it’s led by a wonderful director, obviously — I would say, maybe the greatest director of our generation,” he adds about Paul Thomas Anderson. “So I’m very proud that we are traveling alongside that film.”
With the 2026 Oscars set to take place on March 15, for now Trier is taking some time to enjoy the news and has his whole family with him in Los Angeles to make it extra special. After that, it’ll be back-to-back dinners, luncheons, and glitzy events as the campaign kicks into fifth gear.
Luckily, he’s looking forward to it. “Eskil and I have been nominated before, so I know how much fun it is to be a part of this,” he says, “to meet colleagues, go to dinners and talk about movies.”
